u/TheHelloMiko

With my love 40K being forged in the fires of the Sabbat Worlds, any time that Abnett puts pen to paper, I will be there on "Day 1" (apart from The End and the Death as I had some catching up to do) and HIVE was no exception.

Going into this, I thought what we was going to get was a cross section of hive city life and we do by the cart load. Everyone from the Gutters to the Overmost are represented here. I thought the book would be an Arbites focused novel and it would play out like a series of that old show COPS or CSI. They would be going from case to case to show all the different facets of the hive with a developing main plot. I was wrong on that front.

What I first loved about it was Abnetts talent to make the reader themselves into a denizen of Sacramentus. There is a tonne of hive-slang which is subtly explained before we are substituting a lot of words for what we know them as on Old Earth. I've since told my kids to stop talking "jant" (excuse the spelling if that's wrong because I listened to this one on Audible) a few times.

My early criticism was that the hive is massive and so is the cast of characters. Early on, my head was spinning. Working from the bottom to the top we have two main characters from the Neg, a whole squad of ex Astra Mil (who each have their own stories), a whole crew of hive gangers, insurgents from a rival hive, the Governor and her retinue AND MORE. It was a bit too much and I realised I'd better pay attention before the plot got away from me.

With this criticism in mind, I soon began to believe that Abnett had taken the criticism about the plot of the videogame Darktide personally. Many originally called it barebones and simplistic. HIVE is anything but. I could imagine Abnett being like "Oh you want in depth plot about a hive city? How's this? Is this deep enough for you?" as the reader drowns in it.

...and then it comes... As we have spent a novel and a half exploring the lifestyles and politics of hive city life, understanding the motivations of the lowliest Neg bond to the most burbo overmost, suspecting heresy at each turn as any reader of Black Library does... it comes. The name of it was on the front of the book the whole time.

Although my suspicions were roused, I didnt see them coming. I got played. My money was on Slaaneshi cult... which of course it was meant to be. 10/10... Would get played again. I thank Abnett for it.

I'm reminded through this novel that we all have our lives and our problems. Some of us are broke. Some of us have families we are responsible for. We fuck up at work and are scared we're going to face the consequences. We have friends that we trust and we might meet someone special and fall in love but there's no telling what tomorrow might bring. Natural disasters or war might erupt and rip it all apart and very suddenly, yesterday's problems are wholly insignificant and you might be staring death (perhaps with teeth and claws) in the face.

In the end, I cared about each one of these characters and I think that was the whole point of the first three quarters. I got to know them and understand them and then the tragedy and the horror hit home much harder.

Abnett is still the master. May his light last.

9/10